It’s a harsh reality: average workers will have a much harder time in today’s economic climate. The competition is heating up and those who are exceptional will have traction, gratification and fulfillment in the workforce.

Average workers don’t put in the extra that sets them apart from other members of the team, whereas exceptional workers draw energy from harnessing their unique abilities. It may sound like becoming an exceptional worker will be much more depleting than putting in average effort, but, in fact, it’s the opposite. People who feel “very successful” and “completely successful” at work are twice as likely to say they are happy than those who only feel “somewhat successful,” with their level of income making no difference in their levels of happiness, according to Arthur Brooks in the article “America and the Value of ‘Earned Success.'”1 Exceptional people are driven to become exceptional for its intrinsic value (in happiness and fulfillment), not extrinsic value (in dollars and status).Read the rest of this entry »

The world of work is ever- changing. However, new graduates will experience a heightened level of change over the span of their careers, as technology becomes more integrated and new software, tools, and gadgets make their work more efficient and far reaching. Add to that the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of today’s young people who will be launching many of the new businesses which will fuel our economic growth over the next several decades in areas that don’t yet exist, and it could be hard to predict what the workforce will look like in 20, or even 10, years.Read the rest of this entry »

Thirty years ago this summer, I was finishing my first unpaid internship in Washington, D.C with Common Cause, a lobbying group run at the time by Archibald Cox, John Gardner of Stanford, and, at times, Ralph Nader. The next year, the report, A NATION AT RISK1, was issued as I began my internship in New York City at the Academy for Educational Development. During both summers, I waited on tables at night to be able to work for no pay at my valuable internships. This report was commissioned by the then President Ronald Reagan. I distinctly remember one of the most defining lines of that document: The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.Read the rest of this entry »

With technology, students don’t need to leave the classroom in order to take a trip around the world. In November 2011, Edmodo, a social networking site, teamed up with Polar Bears International to send five people to the Tundra to film polar bears and stream webcasts straight to 1,700 classrooms around the world. Websites like Khan Academy, YouTube, and Stanford’s free online classes, have become highly accessible databases of knowledge available to people around the world. Social networking is being used in and outside of the classroom to extend the learning community for students after they leave school and for educators to connect with other teachers around the nation and world.Read the rest of this entry »

Columnist Elisabeth Rosenthal asks “what makes a test feel like an interesting challenge rather than an anxiety-provoking assault?” Obviously, the test needs to be age-appropriate, which the Race to the Top program plans to put in place. Also, “high-stakes” testing – tests that define a students future off results from one day of testing – is shown to create anxiety and may not be reflective of the students overall abilities.

Rosenthal lived in China with her young children, 6 and 8, who were enrolled in a blended class environment, a mostly Western curriculum with an emphasis on discipline and testing. 10 years later and back in the U.S., when she asks them about the testing, all they remember was having fun since testing was commonplace. Rosenthal says, “the tests felt like so many puzzles; not so much a judgment on your being, but an interesting challenge.”

President Obama’s Race to the Top educational competition encourages more test taking. Instead of taking a long, intimidating test once a year, like was enforced with No Child Left Behind, these tests will be smaller and more frequent, allowing teachers to view students’ progress and help students throughout the semester. LifeBound has curricula that features true/false, fill in the blank, oral review, essay as well as the much-relied but overused multiple-choice questions.

Article: Testing, the Chinese Way

When my children were 6 and 8, taking tests was as much a part of the rhythm of their school day as tag at recess or listening to stories at circle time. There were the “mad minute” math quizzes twice each week, with the results elaborately graphed. There were regular spelling quizzes. Even today I have my daughter’s minutely graded third-grade science exams, with grades like 23/25 or A minus.

Although social networking sites are becoming increasingly popular, there are still an abundance of people who are unfamiliar with these tools. There has been a recent uproar about the use of the word “tweet”, and a new debate on whether the word is appropriate to use in other outlets besides on-line. This debate has in some ways separated tech-savvy people from others.

The Center on Education Policy released a report in March, addressing the fact that on average, boys in all grade levels have lower reading test scores than girls do. The data from the independent, Washington D.C. based organization has been accompanied by another report, which was released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

It has also been found that girls not only have been scoring higher in reading than boys, but that girls also tend to fare better academically overall. The exception is mathematics, which has generated varied results amongst boys and girls. On average, girls also have higher grade-point averages than boys in their grade level, and are likelier to graduate high school and go to college.

Although gender gaps in education have existed for decades, it is now becoming a global problem. In 2006, a study was released with data from fourth grade reading tests in 40 countries; the results showed that girls scored higher than boys in every area where data was collected properly.

Education experts and schools around the nation are now coming up with ideas for “boy friendly” teaching, which would engage boys’ interests in a way so that they would be likelier to succeed, particularly in literacy. There are many kinds of achievement gaps that need to be reduced and eventually closed, from gender to economic background and ethnicity.

There are as many different teaching styles as there are learning styles, and every child is different. LifeBound books and curriculum provide teachers with different strategies and learning activities that engage different kinds of students. It is important that all students are on a level playing field, so that all children have an equal opportunity to succeed in school and in the real world. To learn more about LifeBound’s books, curriculum and other materials, visit www.lifebound.com or e-mail contact@lifebound.com.

“The Boys Have Fallen Behind.” “Girls Lead the Nation in Reading Scores.” “Are Teachers Failing Our Sons?” Earlier this year, newspapers across the country ran these and other headlines in response to a March report by the independent Center on Education Policy (CEP) in Washington, D.C. The report, which outlined results on state accountability tests, raised alarm by noting that the percentage of boys scoring “proficient” or higher in reading was below that of girls at all grade levels tested and in every state for which sufficient data were available.

The Center for Global Advancement of Community Colleges aims to work with two-year institutions to help them strengthen their global focus. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education article below, “they will work to recruit more students from overseas and to build greater recognition of the American community-college system abroad.” The end goal is to ensure students graduate prepared for a global marketplace.

Community College students in America need to know about the world—cultures, economic disparities, languages, nuances in working environments—to be world-class ready upon graduation. This world knowledge can and should begin in high school and be emphasized throughout college. Almost every classroom has a rich ability to draw out the history and background of each student in that class, whether they are foreign born or their families immigrated to the U.S. hundreds of years ago. When students know more about the world, they will know more about themselves.

LifeBound shares this goal. All LifeBound materials profile international students and enforce 21st century skills so that students successfully transition from fifth through twelfth grade, graduate high school and enter college well aware of the world around them. Our get ready for college book, JUNIOR GUIDE TO SENIOR YEAR SUCCESS, for example, features college essays from students in Shanghai and Bangladesh as well as perspectives from people around the world who are solving the world’s greatest problems. Schools and curricula that promote worldwide understanding will help all students succeed in the years to come.

ARTICLE:

The Chronicle of Higher Education
May 13, 2010
New Group Will Help Community Colleges Become More Globally Focused
By Karin Fischer

Several veterans of international education have started a new membership organization that will seek to help community colleges become more globally focused.

The Center for Global Advancement of Community Colleges will work with two-year institutions to recruit more students from overseas and to build greater recognition of the American community-college system abroad.